Comments on To destroy or not: the ivory conundrumTypePad2013-11-20T17:31:15ZToronto Starhttp://thestar.blogs.com/worlddaily/tag:typepad.com,2003:http://thestar.blogs.com/worlddaily/2013/11/to-destroy-or-not-the-ivory-condundrum/comments/atom.xml/Ronald Orenstein commented on 'To destroy or not: the ivory conundrum'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d8341bf8f353ef019b017bded3970d2013-11-22T16:02:00Z2013-11-22T17:08:12ZRonald Orensteinhttp://ronorensteinwriter.bogspot.comThe idea that destruction of ivory stockpiles will drive the price of ivory up is, in my opinion, misplaced. First...<p>The idea that destruction of ivory stockpiles will drive the price of ivory up is, in my opinion, misplaced. First of all, the amount destroyed is probably not great enough to affect prices, but more importantly the stockpiled ivory was not available for the market, under international and US law, in the first place (and in the case of the US stockpile at least, almost certainly never would have been). Increases in poaching have followed (as in 2008) the release of ivory into a legal market, not past stockpile destruction - the opposite of the situation implied by the Guardian.</p>
<p>Personal disclosure: I have been actively involved in the ivory issue since the mid-1980s as a board member of the Species Survival Network. My book &quot;Ivory, Horn &amp; Blood: Behind the Elephant and Rhinoceros Poaching Crisis&quot; was published this fall by Firefly Books.</p>